Newport RI Architecture Survey

“Morningside” // 1872

Buildings of New England1 Comment

While many of the summer cottages in Newport retain much of their architectural and historical integrity, it is not always the case. This cottage, named “Morningside” barely resembles its original 1873 design. The summer home was built for William Barton Rogers (1804-1882), a scientist, educator, and best-known as founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He sought a place of rest and leisure, away from the stresses of Boston and running a new college, so he hired the Boston firm of Cabot & Chandler to design a Stick style cottage for him to spend the summer months at. In his diary for October 11, 1872, Mr. Rogers wrote, “Removed [from Cliff House Cottage] to our new home on Gibbs Avenue, at 4.30 o’clock. I have decided to name the place ‘Morningside.'” The house was his respite from stresses and he loved to spend time here with his family. President Rogers died after collapsing during a speech at MIT’s 1882 commencement exercises. His last words were “bituminous coal.” After the property sold out of the Rogers estate, the house was remodeled with stucco siding and much of the original Stick detailing was removed or covered. Morningside is now divided into condominiums.

Morningside c.1880s

The Anchorage Cottage // 1878

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

This charming Victorian cottage in Newport was built in 1878 for Henrietta and Dr. Stephen Cambreleng Powell as their summer cottage. The well-connected couple hired New Haven architect David R. Brown to design the residence, which is an excellent example of the Queen Anne and Stick/Eastlake architecture styles. David Brown, the architect, apprenticed under the famed Henry Austin for years in New Haven, Connecticut before becoming a partner of the firm. As any good summer cottage needs a fun name, the couple named their cottage “The Anchorage”. The cottage is now known as the Old Beach Inn, and is among Newports many charming old inns.

Anderson-Muenchinger House // c.1850

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

One of the most eccentric and over-the-top houses in Newport (a town full of over-the top houses) is this home on Cottage Street. The original house was built around 1850, likely as an Italianate style residence with a flat roof. Early owner Elbert J. Anderson (1800-1888) who was born and raised in New York City. In Manhattan, Anderson was a director of The Manhattan Fire Insurance Company; the Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company; and The Phoenix Bank. He married Martha Maria Ellery, the eldest daughter of the late Abraham Redwood Ellery. In 1847, his wife inherited the Redwood Farm at Portsmouth, six miles from Newport, and they eventually moved there permanently. They maintained this summer cottage in Newport to remain close to high-society. The home was sold to George and Annie Collins, who likely modernized the residence with the bays, porches, and frilly details. By the early 20th century, the property was owned by Gustave and Amanda Muenchinger, who ran a hotel at the corner of Bellevue and Catherine streets.

Tew Brothers House // 1845

Buildings of New England1 Comment

This Greek Revival house in Newport was built in 1845 for the Tew Brothers. The home was likely a double-house with two doors for each family, as the current entry looks to be of a more recent vintage. The house features a full-length columned porch which has small brackets in the eave, an early nod to the emerging Italianate style. The property was recently renovated and sold for just over $1 Million. Talk about a steal!

Tillinghast Tompkins House // 1854

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

This large frame house in Newport, Rhode Island was built for Tillinghast Tompkins in 1854. The house is a formal example of the Italianate style of architecture, of which many great examples can be found in the coastal town. Character-defining features of the style on this house include the elaborate round-arch bargeboard with acorn pendants, tripartite round-arch windows in façade’s attic, and the important wide cornice with large triple-arch paired brackets with acorn pendants. The house was occupied by Tillinghast for just a few years until his death in 1860. His widow, Charlotte owned the property until her death in 1899, upon which time it was inherited by their son, Hamilton Bullock Tompkins, a historian and author.

Joshua Parker Farmhouse // 1850

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

This house in Cavendish was constructed in 1850 by Joshua Parker and is an outstanding example of a gothicized snecked ashlar house. The house is in the Cape form and largely exhibits a more traditional cottage layout, but with the steep gable dormer, giving the home a distinctive Gothic feeling. The 1850 home replaced a late 18th century farmhouse, but in the iconic snecked ashlar construction. The farm grew over the subsequent decades, including a c.1900 snecked ashlar barn (not pictured), which is probably the last building of “Snecked Ashlar” construction erected in the State of Vermont.


Newport Casino – International Tennis Hall of Fame // 1880

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

Completed in 1880, the Newport Casino building is one of the best examples of Shingle style architecture in the world, and despite its name, it was never a gambling facility. Planning for the casino began a year earlier in August, 1879. Per legend, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., the influential publisher of the New York Herald and a summer resident of Newport, bet his polo partner, Captain Henry Augustus Candy, a retired officer of the Queen’s 9th Royal Lancers and skillful British polo player, to ride his horse onto the front porch of the exclusive gentlemen’s-only club, the Newport Reading Room. Candy took the dare one step further and rode straight through the clubrooms, which disturbed the members. After Candy’s guest membership was revoked, Bennett purchased the land across the street from his home, on Bellevue Avenue, and sought to build his own social club. Within a year, Bennett hired the newly formed architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, who designed the U-shaped building for the new club. The Newport Casino was the firm’s first major commission and helped to establish MMW’s national reputation. The building included tennis courts, facilities for other games such as squash and lawn bowling, club rooms for reading, socializing, cards, and billiards, shops, and a convertible theater and ballroom. In the 20th century, the casino was threatened with demolition as Newport began to fall out of fashion as a summer resort. Saviors Candy and Jimmy Van Alen took over operating the club, and by 1954, had established the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the Newport Casino. The combination of prominent headliners at the tennis matches and the museum allowed the building to be saved. The building remains a National Landmark for its connections with gilded age society and possibly the first commission by McKim, Mead and White, who became one of the most prominent architectural firms in American history.

Sunnylea // 1881

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

One of the best Queen Anne style summer cottages in Newport is this gem, named Sunnylea. The house was built in 1881 for Charles F. Chickering, who ran the Chickering & Sons Piano Company in Boston. Chickering hired local architect Dudley Newton, who had previously apprenticed under George Champlin Mason, a builder of many Newport summer houses. Sunnylea was the first independent commission that Newton designed with his own firm. The house was later owned by Luther Kountze, a New York banker and his wife Annie. After WWII, the home was converted away from single-family use, and was occupied as a prep school, before being converted to condos late in the 20th century. It recently sold, and wow, the interior is just as beautiful as the exterior!

John N. A. Griswold House // 1863

Buildings of New England1 Comment

John Noble Alsop Griswold (1822-1909) was born into wealth, with his family business involved in land speculation in New York as well as the N. L. & G. Griswold Company, which imported sugar and rum from the Caribbean on clipper ships. In his 20s, John traveled to China for a trade and within a year of that trip, was appointed United States consul at Shanghai, serving in that role until 1854. Upon his return to America, he helped develop several prominent railroads, serving as president of the Illinois Central Railroad and chairman of the board of directors of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. He eventually settled in Newport and helped shape the sleepy town into a summer resort town for high-society. His statement-piece in town was his own mansion on Bellevue Avenue, built in 1863 from designs by Richard Morris Hunt, and completed that next year. It was the first of Hunt’s many notable works in Newport, and is considered a prototype work of the Stick style of architecture in America. Hunt would go on to design Ochre Court, The Breakers, and other Gilded Age mansions in Newport and all over the northeast. Griswold died in the house in 1909; it remained vacant until 1915, when it was acquired by the Art Association of Newport, which now uses it as a museum gallery. I really want to see the inside of this beauty!

“Rest Haven” – “Le Chalet” // 1870

Buildings of New England2 Comments

Bellevue Avenue in Newport is best-known for its massive summer cottages, many of which are built of stone and look more like art museums than a house. “Rest Haven” is one of the most stunning summer cottages in Newport and can stand toe-to-toe with the later mansions which neighbor it. The Stick style cottage was built in 1870 as a spec. house for merchant and financier John N.A. Griswold, who had his own cottage farther up the street (last post). Similar to his own house, he hired world-renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt to design the house, which was to be sold soon after completion for a profit to Anna Gilbert of New York, a wealthy widow who wanted to keep up with high-society in Newport. Anna Gilbert’s son, Charles Pierrepont Gilbert, was a New York architect who trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He and his wife, Clara, summered at Resthaven until 1916. The home was likely renamed “Le Chalet” by a subsequent owner. The cottage was altered over the years, but restored a number of years ago by Newport Collaborative Architects and Behan Bros, and looks stunning!